To establish effective and patient-centered healthcare and thus strengthen their future viability, close cooperation between all stakeholders and the transfer of innovation into health and care structures is essential. As part of HACK-IT-NET, a network of stakeholders in the health and care system is established across national borders to create a transnational multi-stakeholder community in the Alpine region. The aim is to implement forward-looking, sustainable and digital innovations, in healthcare.

The project pursues the overarching goal of developing, testing and implementing a framework for the transfer of innovation in the health and care sector in the long term, thereby reducing barriers such as demographic differences. In addition, the project contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – with a particular focus on SDG 3 ‘Health and Wellbeing’ and SDG 9 ‘Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure’. In accordance with Programme Priority 3 ‘Innovation and digitalisation supporting a green Alpine region’ of the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme, two thematic areas are of particular importance here:

• strengthening the transfer of innovation between stakeholders in the health and care ecosystem in the Alpine region
• the creation of a digital and green health and care ecosystem in the Alpine Space

Focus of the project:

• Establishment of a transsectoral and transnational network to analyse the existing health and care challenges in the Alpine Space and the joint development of (digital) tools to address these challenges (work package 1)

• Transfer of innovation as part of pilot projects (work package 2)

• Long-term anchoring and transfer of the developed solutions and identification of political options for action (work package 3)

Nine organisations from six countries are working together in the HACK-IT-NET consortium. In addition to Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland and Slovenia are also represented. In addition to BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg, a state agency for the healthcare industry, the partners also include a local and two regional authorities, a university, a university of applied sciences, a university hospital and two healthcare innovation clusters.

The multi-sectoral composition of the consortium makes it possible to address all the players required for a multi-stakeholder community in the Alpine Space – such as health and care workers, patients, entrepreneurs in the healthcare industry and representatives from administration and politics – and to improve the general conditions for health and care in the Alpine region across all sectors.

BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg will contribute its expertise in the field of sustainability and transformation of the healthcare ecosystem and ensure that the topics of ‘impact and sustainability’ are implemented throughout the project, as well as organising events and workshops for knowledge transfer.

As an INTERREG project, HACK-IT-NET offers the ideal framework for sensitizing the health and care sector at EU level to the relevance and necessity of sustainable development, providing impetus as well as highlighting the potential and benefits of forward-looking innovations.

The continuous exchange with the ‘EU Strategy for the Alpine Region’ (EUSALP for short) in the various project phases of HACK-IT-NET also contributes to this.